Dennis Nett/The Post-StandardColgate's Mitch Rolls fights SU guard Michael Carter-Williams for control of the ball in first half action. Also defending is Dion Waiters.

As the investigation into what transpired between Syracuse University assistant coach Bernie Fine and Bobby Davis, who has accused him of sexual assault, continues, the Orange basketball team prepares to play two games in Manhattan this week.

SU, 4-0 this season and ranked No. 5 in national polls, faces Virginia Tech in the semifinals of the Preseason NIT Wednesday in Madison Square Garden. That game, televised by ESPN2, is the second game of a doubleheader that will start approximately 30 minutes after the first game pitting Stanford vs. Oklahoma State. The Stanford game tips at 7 p.m.

SU players spoke openly and candidly about their support for Fine after Saturday’s 92-47 romp over visiting Colgate. They likely will be quizzed again as the season progresses and the Onondaga County District Attorney’s office continues its investigation, which is expected to take several weeks.

The Orange showed no signs of fuzzy basketball focus against Colgate, a team SU should and did beat handily. SU coach Jim Boeheim said he and his staff talk to players about dealing with difficult issues that intrude upon their lives. The way players handle adversity, Boeheim said, is part of the college maturation process.

“The players have to focus on classes and basketball,” Boeheim said. “The coaches have to focus on getting our players ready to play. These players have nothing to do with anything. The coaching staff has to focus on these players.”

Practice was closed to reporters again on Sunday, but SU spokesman Pete Moore said Orange forward Kris Joseph was physically able to participate. Joseph logged 13 minutes in Saturday’s win, all of those in the first half.

Boeheim said Joseph could have played in Saturday’s second half, but the combination of the lopsided score and Joseph’s sore, stiff right knee dictated that he watch from the bench.

The Orange turned a nominally close contest against Colgate into a blowout in mere seconds. During one 17-second stretch of the first half, James Southerland scored seven points as SU harassed the Raiders into a torrent of turnovers off its full court pressure.

Southerland, a 6-foot-8 forward who said he has a 7-foot-4 wingspan, waved those long arms at the Colgate player charged with inbounding the ball. Southerland’s teammates swarmed to any Raiders attempting to collect the pass.

“James did a good job on the ball, making it hard for the inbounder to see,” SU forward C.J. Fair said. “And then me and Brandon (Triche), whoever came in our direction, we just tried to deny them hard. We kept coming up with steals and you could see our pressure was paying off because we do it in practice all the time. Just to see us do it in a game, it felt good.”

Triche said the Orange worked diligently on its press over its last few practices. SU coaches, he said, had been dissatisfied with the way the Orange operated its pressure defense.

Colgate committed 26 turnovers against a variety of SU defenses. The Orange scored 31 points off those turnovers.

SU played mostly man-to-man in the first half, when the Orange also employed its press. By the second half, SU owned a big lead and stayed zone.

“I think our man worked pretty well. We were able to put pressure on the ball. We were able to stop them from hitting as many threes off their man-to-man stuff. A lot of time they hit threes off broken plays,” Triche said. “I think zone is our best defense. We improved today, which is the big thing. And that was mostly in our press.”

Dennis Nett/The Post-Standard Syracuse's James Southerland shoots a three pointer in the second half of the Orange's game against Colgate.

SU has beaten its four opponents this season by an average score of 90-58. It faces its first significant test of the season against Virginia Tech, the place SU assistant coach Adrian Autry spent the past three years as either a director of basketball operations or an assistant coach. Autry was hired by SU, his alma mater, after Rob Murphy took the head coaching job at Eastern Michigan.

The Hokies are 3-0 this year.

“Our motto this year is to be better than our last game,” SU guard Scoop Jardine said. “Not really worrying about who we’re playing, worrying about getting better that game. That’s what Coach has been preaching to us. No matter what the score is, we go out and push and try to get deflections, get blocks. It’s just keep imposing our will on teams. That’s what we’ve been doing our first four games. (On Saturday), it showed. Our pressure’s great for us. We hit some shots. We had a lot of energy. We’re gonna have to keep doing that the whole year.”

Southerland and Dion Waiters, SU’s two leading scorers at 13.8 points per game, have helped carry the Orange thus far. Neither player starts for SU. Southerland, the junior forward, is shooting .667 from the floor (22-of-33) and from 3-point range (8-of-12). He’s also contributing 4.5 rebounds per game.

Southerland has talked after games about his emerging confidence as each game passes and he continues to excel.

“I think now he’s focusing on that one shot and making sure that shot goes in,” said Triche, one of Southerland’s good friends on the team. “He keeps his form up. He’s not doing too much movement. He’s trying to make every shot. I think great things happen to people who work hard. He’s been doing a lot of things over the summer to get to become the type of player he is right now.”

So did Waiters. SU’s sophomore guard is shooting .564 from the floor (22-of-39) and .286 from beyond the arc (4-of-14). But perhaps more importantly, he has 14 assists and just three turnovers.

“It’s just about staying consistent,” Waiters said. “You’re not going to always have great games but get in the game and impact it in some type of way: Defense, getting an open guy the ball. Just things like that.”